Textile oils



UNTED' STATES PATENT OFFICE :Richard G. 'mington, Nemours & Company,poration of Delaware IEXTILE OILS Clarkson and Samuel Lenher, Wil- Del.,assignors to E. I. du Pont de Wilmington, Del., a cor- No Drawing.Application December 1, 1933,

I Serial N0. 700,618

22 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in textile oils and more in oilsintended for the fibres for use in knitting particularly to improvementspreparation of textile machines, weaving machines and other textilemachinery.

It is necessary,

in the handling of textile fibres,

to subject them to .the action of machines which tend to rub and fibres.It is customary, to impregnate the fibres stance which will act as fraythe individual threads or prior to such operations,- with a fatty oroily suba lubricant and thus decrease the wear upon the threads therebydecreasing the deleterious efiect of rubbing in the The fatty or oilysubstances which have customarily been employed, up to the preshavecomprised saponifiable oils mixed machines.

ent time,

with a soap or a partiallysaponified oil. Recently it has been proposedto replace the saponified oils, either in whole or in part, by mineraloils of suitable viscosity characteristics. It has also been proposed inPatent 1,871,899 to employ oleic acid and the soaps of oiLsoIublesulfonic acids derived from mineral cl 1 by treatment thereof withstrong sulfuric acid.

After the textile fibres have been knitted or woven into fabric orotherwise handled in the various textile machinery, it is desirable and,in

many cases, necessary to subject them to wet treatments such asbleaching or dyeing. If the textile fibres contain any materials, thebleaching or material amount of oily dyeing will be uneven and thefabric ruined. Accordingly, it is necessary to remove the oily or fattysubstances from the textile fibres after the like operations have beenmaterials such as soaps, oils and the like have been knitting, weavingand oleic acid, sulfonated added to the fatty or oily substances forlubricating the fibres ln'order that such fatty and oily moved from thefibres and like operations. The

substances may be reprior to bleaching, dyeing various materials, heietofore added to textile oils, have not proved to be entirelysatisfactory since, even with these materials, it has been exceedinglydifficult to remove the fatty or oily substances with sufficientcompleteness.

An object of the present invention is to provide textile oils ofimproved properties in the 'lubricatingand softening of textile fibreswithout decreasing the tensil e strength of the fibres to anysubstantial extent. A further object is to provide textile oils whichand completely removed may be more readily from the textile fibres.

A still further object is to provide a method for treating textile oilsto improve their lubricating and softening properties and to render themmore readily and completely removable from the fibre. Another object ismethod of lubricating and to provide an improved without substantiallydecreasing their tensile completed. Therefore,

softening textile fibres other objects will appear hereinafter.

These objects may be accomplished in accordance with our invention whichcomprises'incorporating monohydric fatty or oily alcohols in textileoils comprising one or more of the mineral oils, saponifiable oils,oleic acid, soaps and sulfonated mineral oil soaps which have beenemployed heretofore.

Our invention is based upon the discovery that the. monohydric fatty andoily alcohols may be readily admixed with any of the usual textile oilsand, so admixed, will improve the lubricating and softening propertiesof the oils and will, at the same time, render such oils more readilyand completely removable from the textile fibres by the ordinary andcustomary methods of washing such fibres. By the terms fatty" or oilyalcohol, as employed herein, we intend to include aliphatic alcoholscontaining 12 or more carbon atoms which alcohols may be of theunsaturated or of the saturated series.

' The textile oils of our invention are preferably prepared by mixingtogether from about 90 to about parts of a purified mineral oil 01' lowviscosity, say from about 40 to about 150 Saybolt at 100 F., with fromabout 1 to about 20 parts of oleic acid and from about 1 to about 20parts of a monohydric fatty or oily alcohol containing at least 12carbon atoms. The mineral oil may be replaced, in whole or in part, by asaponifiable oil such as olive oil or a partially saponified oil. Theoleic acid is preferably partially neutralized by the addition of aconcentrated solution of an inorganic base such as ammonium, sodium andpotassium hydroxides, or by an alkyl amine such as diethylamine,dibutylamine, amylamine and trimethylamine to form an acid soap. It istobe understood that the acid soap may be formed before addition to theoil. However, desirable results will be obtained if no part of the oleicacid has been neutralized. Desirable results have alsobeen obtained whenpart of the oleic acid was replaced by soaps of sulfonated mineral oilssuch as are described in Example I A mixture was prepared from parts ofre-' fined mineral oil (viscosity 50 sec. Saybolt at (28%) was added.The finished oil was a clear amber liquid, having a viscosity of about54 sec.

Saybolt at 100 F.

Example II A mixture was prepared from 70 parts of a refined mineral oilof low viscosity (about '10 sec. Saybolt at 100 F.), 10 parts of pureoleyl alcohol, 14 parts of sodium soaps of a sulfonated mineral oil, 5parts of oleic acid and the whole stirred vigorously while. 1 part of40% potassium hydroxide solution was added. The product was a clearlight brown oil having a viscosity of about '78 sec. Saybolt at 100 F.

Example III A mixture of 62 parts of refined mineral oil, 15 parts ofolive oil, 6 parts oleic acidand 5 parts commercial oleyl alcohol(iodine number 81) was stirred vigorously while 1 part of 35% sodiumhydroxide was added. The slight cloudiness of the oil was then removedby the addition of 1 part of methyl cyclohexanol. The finished oil was aclear yellow liquid of low viscosity.

. In oils for textile purposes, for example in the coning or knitting ofrayon and in the weaving of wool, it is of. extreme importance that theoil be readily and completely removable from the fiber. This property ispossessed by the products of our invention to a high degree.

To test this property two of the oils prepared according to the presentinvention were compared with an oil such as is ordinarily used atpresent. The latter was prepared in the same manner from the sameingredients as given in Example III with the exception that the oleylalcohol was omitted. This oil was designated IV and was used forpurposes of comparison with the products of Examples 11 and HI,designated II and m. respectively.

.for the purposes Three portions of the same lot of rayon in skein formwere then impregnated in a similar manner with the three different oils.Each portion was then divided into three samples, One of which wasextracted with a suitable organic solvent and the percentage determined.One sample of each set was then washed in an identical manner in watercontaining 0.25% soap and 0.125% sodium carbonate at F. The third sampleof each set was washed in water containing 0.30% sodium carbonate aloneat 140 F. After washing, the samples were then thoroughly dried and theresidual oil determined by extraction. It is obvious that by this testthe oil which is most completely removed by washing is the most suitabledescribed. The results are shown in the following table.

Table Oil content of rayon After OllNo. Original soa oa N13300:

4. 12% o. as o. 11 3. 98 0. 67 0. 64 4. 55 1. 37 0. 86.

removed and in Oil N054 II Both in percentage of total oil absoluteamount of oil remaining,

I fore be attributed to of oil taken up thus and 111 are superior totrue where the soap and sodium carbonate wash was used, which'is moreusual in" commercial practice than the more .vigorous treatment withsodium carbonate alone.

Although the results cannot be evaluated in a quantitative fashion, ithas also been found that textile fibers treated with the products of theinvention possess a softness and suppleness superior to that of the samefibers treated with oil of identical composition except that the fattyalcohol was omitted. This property must therethe fatty alcohol.

Oils produced in accordance with our invention have no tendency todiscolor textile fibers treated with them or to give rise todisagreeable odors. For instance, rayon skeins impregnated with oils asgiven in the three examples showed no change in color during baking at230 F. for a period of two hours.

The products of our invention are suitable for the purpose oflubricating and softening viscose, nitrate, cuprammonium and acetaterayons or silk in preparation for coning or for knitting. They are alsouseful for preparing wool and silk for spinning and weaving. They aresuperior to other products which have heretofore been employed for thispurpose, in the ease and completeness with which they may be removedfrom the fibre and also in softening and improving the feel of textiles,even after washing.

Other alcohols coming within our class and which merit special mention'are the following:

Linoleyl, ricinoleyl, tetradecyl, cetyl, ootadecyl, ceryl, myricyl, andbatyl.

While we have disclosed the preferred embodiments of our invention, itwill be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that manyvariations and modifications may be made therein without departing fromthe spirit of our invention. Accordingly, the scope of our invention isto be limited solely by the appended claims construed as broadly as ispermissible in view of the prior art.

' We claim:

1. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein a small amount exceeding 1% of a monohydric aliphatic alcoholcontaining at least 12 carbon atoms sufficient to render the oil morereadily and completely removable from the textile fibres by washing inaqueous solution.

2. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein a small amount exceeding 1% of oleyl. alcohol sufiicient torender the oil more readily'and completely removable from the textilefibres by washing in aqueous solution.

3. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein small amounts exceeding 1% of oleic acid and a monohydricaliphatic alcohol containing at least 12 carbon atoms suflicient torender the all more readily and completely removable from the textilefibres by washing in aqueous solution.

4. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein small amounts exceeding 1% of oleic acid and oleyl alcoholsufilcient to render the oil more readily and comw. This is particularlypletely removable from the textile fibres by washing in aqueoussolution.

6. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein small amounts of oleic acid, an alkali hydroxide insufiicient inamount to render the oil alkaline and small amounts exceeding 1% ofoleyl alcohol sufllcient to render'the oil more readily and completelyremovable from the textile fibres by washing in aqueous solution. 7. Themethod of lubricating textile fibres which comprises impregnating thefibres with a mineral oil having incorporated therein small amountsexceeding 1% of a monohydric aliphatic alcohol containing at least 12carbon atoms and subsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washingin an aqueous solution.

8. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprises impregnatingthe fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated therein small amountsexceeding 1% of oleyl alcohol and subsequently removing the oil from thefibre by washing in an aqueous solution.

9. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprises impregnatingthe fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated therein small amountsexceeding 1% of oleic acid and a monohydric aliphatic alcohol containingat least 12 carbon atoms and subsequently removing the oil from thefibre by washing in an aqueous solution.

10. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts exceeding 1% of oleic acid and oleyl alcohol andsubsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washing in an aqueoussolution.

11. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts of oleic acid, sufiicient in amount to an alkalihydroxide.in-

render the oil alkaline a and small amounts exceeding 1% of a monohydricaliphatic alcohol containing at least 12 carbon atoms and subsequentlyremoving the oil from the fibreby washing in an aqueous solution.

12. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts of oleic acid, an alkali hydroxide insufiicient in amountto render the oil alkaline and small amounts exceeding 1% of oleylalcohol and subsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washing inan aqueous solution.

13. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein a small amount exceeding 1% of lauryl alcohol sufl'icienttorender the oil more readily and completely removable from the textilefibres by washing in aqueous solution.

'sufficient in amount to ceeding 1% of oleic 1 mineral oil having 14. Amineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein-small amounts exceeding 1% of oleic acid and lauryl alcoholsuflicient to render; the oil more readily and completely removable fromthe textile fibres by washing in aqueous solution.

15. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts exceeding 1% of lauryl alcohol and subsequently removingthe oil from the fibre by washing in an aqueous solution.

16. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts exceeding 1% of oleic acid and-lauryl alcohol andsubsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washing in an aqueoussolution.

1'7. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts of oleic acid, analkali hydroxide inrender the oilalkaline and small amounts exceeding 1% of lauryl alcohol andsubsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washing in an aqueoussolution.

18. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein a small amount exceeding 1% of octadecyl alcohol suflicient torender the oil more readily and completely removable from the textilefibres by washingin aqueous solution.

7 19. A mineral oil for lubricating textile fibres having incorporatedtherein small amounts exacid and octadecyl alcohol suificient to renderthe oil more readily and completely removable from the textile fibres bywashing in aqueous solution.

20. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a. incorporated therein small amountsexceeding 1% of octadecyl alcohol and subsequently removing the oil fromthe fibre by washing in an aqueous solution.

21. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts exceeding 1% of oleic acid and octadecyl alcohol andsubsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washing in an aqueoussolution.

22. The method of lubricating textile fibres which comprisesimpregnating the fibres with a mineral oil having incorporated thereinsmall amounts of oleic acid, an alkali hydroxide insuflicient in amountto render the ,oil alkaline and small amounts exceeding 1% of octadecylalcohol and subsequently removing the oil from the fibre by washing inan aqueous solution.

RICHARD G. CLARKSON. SAMUEL LENHER.

